PIAC to assist A-G probe oil-funded projects

The Public Interest and Accountability Committee (PIAC) will be meeting the Auditor-General (A-G) next week to assist in investigating oil-funded projects in the Northern Region.

According to the Chairman of the PIAC, Dr Steve Manteaw, it was necessary to ensure accountability in the expenditure of public funds, thus, the probe.

He said their findings have revealed that most of the projects the Mahama-led administration claimed it funded with oil money are none-existent, a situation, he said requires immediate attention.

Speaking in an interview with Accra News’ Abena Korantemaa Agaypong on Friday, 13 April, Dr Manteaw said: “In 2016, we wrote to the Ministry of Finance requesting for the list of projects that have been funded with the oil cash in the country. The Ministry, accordingly replied our letter and provided the list.

“We went to the Northern Region to inspect the projects only to find out that out of the 6 projects, half of them were none-existent. We then wrote to the Ministry again informing them of our findings but they failed to respond.”

He added: “We are meeting the Auditor-General next week to present our findings and evidence for further investigations into the projects that were undertaken in 2014.

“We will assist the Auditor-General to investigate this matter and let Ghanaians know what actually happened.”

PIAC is an independent statutory body mandated to promote transparency and accountability in the management of petroleum revenues in Ghana.